The Kinks “All Day and All of the Night” (1964) vs. The Doors “Hello, I Love You” (1968)

The UK courts ordered The Doors to pay royalties to The Kinks songwriters for borrowing their riff. In a September 2012 interview with Mojo magazine The Kinks’ Ray Davies recounted the tale: “The funniest thing was when my publisher came to me on tour and said The Doors had used the riff for ‘All Day And All Of The Night’ for ‘Hello, I Love You.’ I said rather than sue them, can we just get them to own up? My publisher said, ‘They have, that’s why we should sue them!’ (laughs) Jim Morrison admitted it, which to me was the most important thing. The most important thing, actually, is to take (the idea) somewhere else.”